Leave it to fraud thieves to find yet another way to scam you. Now these crooks are going after your gift card balance. One day you've got a substantial balance and the next time you go to use it, it's at a zero balance.

A divisive election that left half the country deflated and the other half rejuvenated could reverberate through the holiday shopping season in the kind of gifts people are giving or how much they spend.

From a Broadway-style marketing campaign to more exclusive toys, Target wants to lure shoppers during the final critical months of the year. More importantly, though, it needs to convince shoppers that it's the place for deals.

As merry as the holiday season is, it can be cursed. The numbers on our scales increase and conversely, the numbers in our bank accounts decrease-a month filled with expiration dates for both diets and budgets.